Richard Cranium

I'm in favor of supporting local businesses whenever I can. I'd probably choose NAPA over Advance and Autozone though. But I think I am in agreement with you for anything that involves a warranty I would buy local so you can just drop it on their counter if it breaks.

This one doesn't quite meet all your requirements but would be an interesting start. http://www.cycletrader.com/listing/1974-HARLEY-DAVIDSON-Sportster-Xlh1000-102318885 It is an AMF Harley, but since it runs you know it's at least complete. Since it is '74 the shifter is on the right which gives cool points. The price is higher than you wanted to start at $3400. But it might be worth considering since you could buy a basket case for $2500 and then end up spending 900 tracking down missing/miscellaneous parts. BTW, if you buy it make sure your fillings are in good condition. These old bikes will rattle them right out of your teeth.

Just noticed the "rat bike project" comment in the original post. You may be able to find a basket case sportster for that money. Problem is they are normally basket cases because the idiot to took it apart didn't know how to put it back together and lost interest in the project. Your problem buying one is normally there are a few dozen little parts that have gone missing. Since you're talking about a rat bike/bobber project a basket case may not be a bad idea. If you're willing to get creative on replacement parts you could probably knock something together. I've always wanted to find an old basket case Indian Chief and build it up from nothing, but I've never even seen one advertised.

I be very leary of any harley under $2500. If it's running and that's all they are asking it's probably about to explode. I've probably put way more than mine is worth into restoring it to good running condition and I'm not there yet. So far we've replaced: Starter Solonoid Generator Coil Points Battery Wiring harness Carb Pistons and jugs Rebuilt the heads Master cylinder Front caliper and probably a dozen other parts I'm not thinking of. 30 years of roadside repairs, hack rebuilds, and general shitty maintenance took their toll. Luckily the transmission was still in decent shape. With any luck it'll be back on the road this summer.

What does the Olds turn into? Welcome. (saw the Autobot graphic in the back window)

There are people that don't own 4 cars? Hell, we're at 4 cars and 3 motorcycles.

Summit has the kits for $445 with free shipping. It really should not be bad to install yourself, but I would assume you could find someone who would do it for you for a couple hundred at most. Just saw on LS1tech one of the sponsors is selling the kit for $399 shipped. http://ls1tech.com/forums/sponsor-sales-specials/1504220-magnaflow-catback-399-00-shipped.html

I'll toss this out there. If the $450 is too much for your budget, you can always go with a mail order tune. PCMforless is who did mine when we built the 383. She ran great with that tune. I took it to Dynotune once the motor was broken in and we only picked up about 5 or 10 horsepower. That will save you a bit over a tune. You can always do that, then hit up a dyno day and run it to check air/fuel and see what happened. All that aside, $450ish is what you're going to have to pay. I'll also vouch for Dyno Brian.

Lemmie know if you want to try out the H&K (USP 9mm). I haven't shot it in forever so it would be fun to get it back out and make some holes in something.

I say your best bang for your buck is Magnaflow. Cheap, stainless, not too loud, but sounds good especially with headers and ORY. I bought mine from a vendor on Fleabay and have been completely satisfied with it.

Hulu Plus has commercials? That sucks.

I just went ahead and subscribed. $19.95 a year on Amazon.

Air causes beer to go stale. That's why when you use a party pump the keg is only good for a couple days before it starts to taste bad. CO2 is a natural process of the fermentation, so pressurizing it with CO2 not only works for dispensing, but also for keeping it fresh. With a setup like that you could keep a keg going for about a month before it started to go bad. Depending on your tolerance for skunky beer you could even keep it around for a couple months.

Wow, do we not have any ford dealership guys on this board?

Problems I've read about them start with the fact you can't gap them because you can't get the shim in place with 3 electrodes. Also that the extra electrodes get in the way of the burn as it expands out from the source of ignition. They are preying on the population that always believes more is better. Hell, some body has one out now with 4 electrodes. Pretty soon some one will probably come out with so many electrodes it won't work at all because the fuel can't get to the spark.

Clay? Really? I have some ocean front property in Kansas if you want.

Hmmm, I'm very interested in some of the items. AFR heads - AFR on their website does not list a 190 head. There is a 180, and a 195. Is this a typo, or are the heads an older style not offered anymore? I may be interested in the FAST pieces, but I don't know much about them. Any idea of the vacuum pump makes much of a difference?

Well, I was planning on being there, but the happy hour crowd followed me home and everyone is just now caching out here. Since we've got a house full of people I probably aught to be home when everyone gets up. If everyone here gets up early and heads out I'll try to make it over.

Tick and RPM are the big names I know of when talking about T56s. I bought my level 5 T56 from RPM. I believe they will sell you a package with all the upgraded parts, but I would rather just send them my transmission and know it was done right.

Buddy of mine ArmorAlled his new Pergo kitchen floor. Someone told him that when he spills something it will just wipe right up. After he finished his son came into the kitchen wearing socks and promptly busted his ass.

I started at the end of the summer. Since college I've been heavy. My wake up call for how big I had gotten was going to Cedar Point right before school started. The first ride we got on (Top Thrill Dragster) I watched 2 big people get booted because they couldn't fasten the seat belt. Then I got on and I couldn't get it to fasten myself. Luckily I was right at the limit and the operator was able to latch it for me. The rest of the day went the same way with me unable to buckle the seat belts without help. I'm about 5'7" and probably weighed in around 230 at that point. I started cutting back on meals and snacks and was down about 8 lbs after the holidays when I fell off the wagon. I'm back on it now and weighed in this morning at 215. My BMI is down one full point since the holidays and my goal weight is 180. I've run a couple of 5Ks in the past and I want to get back to that condition. From there I want to start putting back some muscle mass to help keep the fat from coming back.

All links are now dead other than the one posted by Benner.

Yeah, that helps a little. My understanding is since the pan is basically empty the crank can rotate without sloshing through the oil (think airplane propeller vs. boat propeller, which one has less resistance?) Also, you get the benefit under high G acceleration that the pump cannot go dry, starving the motor of oil like a traditional pan/pump.

Depending on what the weather looks like the Camaro may make an appearance. Otherwise I'll be rocking the Impala as usual. See you all there.

I've not had much luck with registry and software type fixes. Any chance you have an external you can test with, or the ability to swap in a known good one to test with? I'm sure I have a spare or two around I could loan you to try. I suppose you could also try one of the cleaning disks, but I don't put much faith in those either.